Year In Review | adidas Football
Year In Review | adidas Football
We recap an action packed year of events and releases from adidas.
We continue our 2013 brand reviews by looking back on the best three striped events, launches and player interviews we've covered over the past 12 months. For adidas it's been another year of innovation, limited edition releases and mind blowing launch events.
The adidas action came thick and fast from the first month of the year to the last and we've picked out the best of coverage from an extensive highlight reel as we look back on another monumental 365 days for the brand with Three Stripes. 
January | Messi Ballon d'Or F50 - Adidas began the year by commemorating Leo Messi's fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or by designing and creating a unique pair of F50 boots. The boots, which Messi only wore once, paid homage to his incredible achievements, with all four years stated on the boot upper. The years were placed within a gold 'Sun of May' symbol which features in the centre of the Argentinian flag. 
February | adizero F50 Messi - Continuing their appreciation for the world's greatest player adidas launched a new signature adizero F50 Messi colourway in February. The design featured Messi's signature logo and the colour scheme was a mix of red and white - red being Messi s favourite colour and picked to represent the danger he poses on the pitch. A single red stud on the sole plate in amongst 10 white studs represented Messi alongside his teammates.
April | Chelsea Kit Launch: It's Blue, what else matters? - Following on from an unforgettable tease campaign, Chelsea became the first Premier League club to reveal their kit for the 2013/14 season. The campaign from adidas featured Chelsea stars soaked from head to toe in blue paint using the message "It's blue, what else matters?" A huge viral video campaign that racked up over 2 million hits on YouTube.
May | Predator LZ II Launch - One of the most anticipated boot releases of the year landed in May with the launch of the next generation Predator. The LZ II arrived in a bold green colourway and with the 'Lethal Zones' taking on a reshaped design. The Predator is always a beacon of innovativeness in football technology and the landscape of the boot had taken another dramatic turn. The eccentric colourway was greeted with mixed reactions but the technology on the boot had gone up another level. 
May | Nitrocharge 1.0 - May saw the launch of a brand new adidas silo in the shape of the Nitrocharge 1.0. After months of rumours and testing, the Nitrocharge became adidas' fourth silo armed with a distinctive design aimed at the box-to-box midfielder, the engine of the team. Featuring totally new innovations from the adidas lab the Nitrocharge was inspired by spring geometry to provide maximum energy output.
May | SB in Barcelona: Nitrocharge Launch - We flew out to Barcelona to go behind the scenes at the adidas Nitrocharge commercial that featured on television screens all over the world. The Olympic Stadium was the venue and adidas had lined up three of their biggest names to headline the new silo. Danielle De Rossi, Javi Martinez and Dani Alves starred in an explosive three day event of pure epicness and we were on hand to capture the madness first hand.
May | adidas lab: 99g Boot - A busy May was rounded off with a visit to The adidas Lab in central London where we experienced innovation being born. With the Three Stripes showcasing a 99g boot that's due to drop in 2015, it was a brief look into the future design of football and showed exactly how far the adidas innovation team work in advance.
June | adizero F50 Messi Update - Messi kicked off his ninth season as an adidas athlete wearing a new pair of signature f50 adizero football boots. Succeeding his previous exclusive design launched earlier in the year, the new boots arrived with a crazy design to give Barca's number 10 a completely unique look. On the visuals Andreas Konrads, Senior Product Manager at adidas Football said; "Each time we meet up with him more creative sparks ignite and ideas come to life. We will continue to push boundaries to remain at the forefront, just like Leo."
July | UCL Finale Official Matchball - The new Champions League Finale 13 official matchball landed in July. Using the same panel design to the previous season the ball was finished in sharp red, silver and black stripes inside the famous stars that have featured on the ball since 2000. The ball was first used in the UCL group stages in September and will be replaced by an updated version for the knockout stages next year. 
August | RVP Custom F50 - The start of the Premier League season saw adidas hand Robin Van Persie a bespoke pair of adizero F50 boots designed exactly to his specifications. The United striker, who is picky when it comes boot choice, kept the soleplate of his beloved Predator adiPower boots and added a leather F50 upper to create a custom built piece of kit fit for a goalscoring machine. 
August | Özil Welcomed to the Family - Mesut Özil was finally unveiled as an official adidas player in August. The Three Stripes secured the services of one the world's greatest centre midfielders making him a complete adidas player wearing the Real Madrid kit, that was until he moved to Arsenal. On signing for the brand Özil said "During my talks with adidas I felt at home immediately. adidas is the number one and has a unique history in the world of football."
September | White Copa Mundial - The Copa Mundial is undoubtedly one of the greatest boots of all time and remained untouched for 31 years until September 2013 when adidas added a second colourway to their most famous boot. Reversing the colours adidas launched a limited edition white/black version of the iconic boot that featured all the quality and class of the original.
October | Enlightened Pack - October saw the return of the Champions League and with it the launch of the adidas Enlightened Pack. Featuring reflective stripes and laces the Enlightened pack was made up of all four adidas silos and worn for just one set of fixtures. Using reflective exposure innovation the collection was design to capture and rebound the light of floodlights and cameras to create a unique visual effect. 
October | Yamamoto adizero F50 - October also delivered one of the most beautifully insane football boots we've ever seen. The Yamamoto adizero F50 reignited the partnership between adidas and Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto who delivered a crazy lion design on the brand's speed silo. Only 2000 pairs of the boots were released with only a handful appearing on pitch.
October | Yamamoto F50 In Focus - The Yamamoto adizero F50 wasn't just a random design, there was a story behind the visuals and we sat down with adidas Global Senior Product Manager Antoine Hadjimanolis who explained it further to us at adidas' Global HQ in Herzogenaurac, Germany. Antoine told us "It's simply an outstanding design that we've never seen on an adidas football boot before. This is what we do, we want to be innovative, drive conversation and this boot is definitely going to bring it."
November | Samba Pack: New F50: New 11Pro - Kicking off their countdown to Brazil 2014, adidas launched the 'Samba Pack' in November. Inspired by the colourful lifestyle and carnival spirit of the World Cup's host country, the Samba Pack consisted of bright new paint jobs across all four of adidas' silo's, as well as debut outings for the new generation F50 and adiPURE.
November | SB on Set @ Samba Launch - To launch the Samba collection adidas rounded up a selection of their Premier League stars to feature in a UK photoshoot showcasing the Brazil 2014 World Cup inspired boots. We were on set to capture the players including Steven Gerrard, Roberto Soldado and Aaron Ramsey getting stuck into a series of drills as they laced up in the Samba collection for the very first time.
November | SB meets Mesut Özil - Towards the end of November we sat down with Arsenal playmaker Mesut Özil in an exclusive three part mini series where the Three Stripes' summer signing talked about working with adidas, his move to London, life at Arsenal and chatted about some of his footballing idols. 
December | 2014 World Cup 'Brazuca' Ball Launch - After a two and a half year testing process involving more than 600 of the world s top players adidas launched the Brazuca, the official 2014 FIFA World Cup match ball. Taking inspiration from Brazil's heritage the design of the Brazuca panels symbolise multi-coloured traditional wish bracelets and reflect the vibrancy and fun associated with football in Brazil.
December | SB at adidas HQ Germany: Brazuca Testing - For the launch of the adidas Brazuca we visited adidas HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany, to meet the team behind the design and production, to see first hand the intense and vigorous testing process and to kit up and try out the new World Cup ball for ourselves. The Brazuca is the most tested football adidas have ever created and we saw first hand the science and detail that goes into each ball. 
